Ricardo Venables (Skyrim)
Ricardo Venables (Skyrim) Transcribed by Scottius Macmillanus Note: This story is based on real events from the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, to add to the story though it has been dramatized and many of the events of this book do not relate to the Elder Scroll V: Skyrim and are a work of the authors imagination. Prologue: The soft, cool air, and beautiful woods of the Rift had long disappeared into the distance, and now the cold of the mountains encircled the Khajiit caravan as it slowly trundled along the snow covered road, the rocky pass was set between two huge mountains and provided little shelter from the cold blizzard that had set in. All this was far off in the distance to Ricardo Venables, an Imperial, who had joined the caravan as a guard, his friends, the Khajiit knew to leave the tall Imperial alone when he was brooding, as he had a fierce temper when he was disturbed from thought, but at this moment Ricardo would have been grateful for the intrusion, for he felt very lonely since he had left Anvil some six weeks ago, having sold up his family home to pay the many debts his dead father had left, and accepted the offer of joining one of his Khajiit friends name Kharjo, whose caravan was traveling to Skyrim, and so now he stood in Darkwater Crossing, leaving behind the caravans first stop in Riften, as they slowly traveled through the mountainous terrain, 'Damn this feking cold, how do the bloody Nords do it?' he thought to himself as he murmured and muttered under his thick fur clothes. Suddenly he noticed houses in the distance and they came out into a small settlement which stood next to a river, suddenly he felt extremely uneasy and looked around, then he saw the flash of metal amongst the few townsfolk, he went to call out to the Khajitt to warn them, but suddenly he felt a heavy weight smash the back of his skull, and he collapsed to his knees, he sat there for a brief moment his head a blur, the last thing he saw before he collapsed was the Khajitt caravan being overrun, then he collapsed into darkness. Chapter One: Unbound: The darkness swallowed him whole and he dreamt of Anvil and Benirus Manor, his childhood home, and his father and mother, and his sisters, he dreamt of his first voyage to Elsweyr and his first journey to Hammerfell, then he felt as if he was being drawn out of a deep pool of water, and he heard voices, strange voices with strange accents, and for a brief moment he dreamed he was back home, then he suddenly snapped into reality and awoke to find himself in the back of an old wagon, looking around he noticed they had come through the mountains and where now in a thick, snowy wood, which was surrounded by mountains, away down the road, he could see the green of a great tundra of wilderness, he also smelt smoke from a cooking fire somewhere in the distance. He then began to examine his fellow occupants of the wagon, and saw three bound men, all of fair complexion like himself though taller and broader in their arms and legs save for one who was thin and dressed in rags whilst the one opposite him was tall and dressed in fine, dark furs and chain mail, and was gagged at the mouth, whilst the one opposite Ricardo was very much the same but wore a shabby old cuirass, this man smiled at Ricardo, and said “So your finally awake huh?” Ricardo tried to give a smile but it came out in a grimace, “How long have i been out for?” Ricardo asked the man, who smiled and replied “About three hours, you took quite a bash to the head lad, you and those Khajitt walked right into the Imperial Ambush, just like us” The man in the rags scowled at the man and said “Damn you rebels! Skyrim was fine before you came along! Empire was nice and lazy!” The gagged noble growled from under his gag, and the other Nord growled at the ragged Nord, “Watch your tongue thief, you're addressing Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King of Skyrim!” He said grimly, Ricardo scowled at this remark, he knew full well about the Civil War, that raged in Skyrim with the Imperial Legion fighting a desperate campaign against the Nordic Stormcloaks who believed that the Empire didn't belong in Skyrim. The thief now looked greatly alarmed, “You mean.... the Jarl of Windhelm, if they've got you.... oh gods, where are they taking us!” he exclaimed, the Imperial Soldier driving the wagon had been listening to this conversation and was beginning to get agitated by the talk, “Shut up back there!” he barked at them. The Stormcloak sighed and shook his head, “I don't know, but Sovengarde awaits...”. Ricardo looked in the direction the wagon was going and saw the makings of a town begin to emerge from among the trees and rocks, they slowly trundled through a gate in the towns wall, on a street to the left of the gate, on horseback, sat a tall, Imperial Officer, he was deep in conversation with two Thalmor agents, “Look at General Tullius, the military governor of Skyrim! and it looks like the Thalmor are here too, damn elves probably had something to do with it!” The Stormcloak spat in disgust. On the street children ran next to the carts, cheering and shouting, as parents hustled them into houses, a few men spat in the direction of the carts, but Ricardo ignored all this, his eye where focused on the executioner and his block in the middle of the square they where entering. “Why are we stopping?” The thief asked, The Stormcloak shrugged, “Why do you think? End of the line...” He said sadly, they started slowly dismounting from the wagons, and where lined up in front of a female Imperial officer and another Imperial soldier. “Approach the block when your name is called!” The officer snapped at them, “Damn Empire love its bloody lists!” A Stormcloak spat, he promptly received the backhand of the officer, “Silence traitor!” she barked, the other Imperial soldier looked at her and shook his head, and began to call out names on his list. “Balof of Riverwood” He called and the Stormcloak who Ricardo had shared his time in the cart with, moved forward, “Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm” The traitor stepped forward, “Rokir of Rorikstead” the soldier called out, but the horse thief was already running, several Imperials ordered him to stop but he kept on running, then he was felled by an arrow through the spine, which came from a young female soldier on the ramparts, “Anyone else fell like running?!” the officer spat in anger, Ricardo mind was racing, he knew he had to get out of this somehow, but his mind was still dazed and his execution was drawing near, then the Imperials attention turned to him, “You there! Step forward!” Ricardo straightened his back and squared his shoulders, and marched forwards and halted in front of the officer and soldier, “Who are you?” the soldier with the list asked, Ricardo saw his chance and took it, “I am Ricardo Venables, an Imperial citizen of Cyrodiil and son of the noted merchant Aquila Venables of Anvil, I am not a Stormcloak, I am a loyal citizen of the Empire!” He said in a crisp, authoritative voice. The Imperial soldier looked impressed but before he could say anything, the Imperial officer had lashed out and backhanded Ricardo across the face, “How dare....” Ricardo got no further, he received a punch in the gut for his troubles, “This man is a renegade and spy! Take him away!” The officer growled, Ricardo knew there was no point in arguing so he submitted to being forced towards the execution line, a look of disbelief on his battered face, he arrived in time to see a Stormcloak's head roll into a bucket, as the headsman's axe claimed its first victim. “Ulfric... you started this war, and now you're going to pay!” General Tullius declared, Tullius suddenly turned and eyed Ricardo, then shook his head and turned away, Ricardo had never felt so melancholy, not since his mother had died eight years since. The spiteful Imperial officer had appeared again and now shouted at him. “Next the renegade from Cyrodiil!” Ricardo spat at the ground, and a word silently formed on his lips, “Bitch”. Suddenly a distant sound was heard on the wind, it remind Ricardo of the roar of a great desert cat in Elsweyr, save for the fact it was abut ten times deeper and seemed to penetrate right down to his soul. The Imperial soldiers looked up to the sky but saw nothing, the officer was getting angry, “I said.... NEXT PRISONER!” She snapped in fury, Ricardo nodded grimly and straightened his back again, and walked forwards, muttering a pray to Akatosh. The tall Imperial soldier who had been reading the list nodded solemnly to him, and shook his head sadly, Ricardo knelt down with as much dignity as the situation would allow, and then received a heavy foot on his back smashing his head into the stone block, the previous occupant's head stared at him with fly covered eyes, 'poor bastard...' Ricardo thought, suddenly the roar came through the air again, but louder and actually shook the ground! the executioner grinned under his mask and lifted the axes blade, and prepared for the swing when suddenly a huge flying figure landed on one of the watch towers! Ricardo watched in horror as the executioner was sent flying to the other side of the square, and the General Tullius cried out, as he drew his sword, “What in Oblivion is that!” Ricardo had heard many tales and read many stories during his youth of such creatures, the bringer of the end times, the fiends of the mankind, it was a huge, scaled dragon of old. Ricardo stood up from the block and look around, seeing the carnage the creature had inflicted, the arrogant Imperial officer was rolling on the ground, screaming as she was engulfed in flames, and the young, female archer that he'd seen earlier began franticly trying to shoot the creature which soared into the air and grabbed her with its talons! Suddenly, someone grabbed Ricardo and rushed him towards one of the watch towers near what looked like a tavern. “Don't die on me Imperial!” Balof yelled in his ear, Ricardo scowled and kept running, they reached the door just as part of the tower came crashing down in front of the doorway! Ricardo stood bent over, hands on his knees, catching his breath. There where five other people in the room besides himself and Balof, a young female insert race here for Keira Kinover and a male Argonian as well as two Stormcloaks and Ulfric himself, Balof stared at the destruction and gawked at Ulfric, “L..Lord Ulfric could the legends be true? d..dragons!?” Ulfric rubbed his forehead and grimly smiled, “Legends don't burn down towns!” he said sternly, Ricardo grimaced at the sound of screaming villagers and looked at the Argonian and insert here, “You two! lets get the fek out of here!” he said, the Argonian looked at Ricardo and gave what looked to be a grin, “After you Imperial!” he croaked in voice which betrayed his dry throat, the insert here smiled and said, “Might as well die out there, then in here!” Ricardo grinned and started up the stairs to the second story, he was just about to take the last step when the wall in front of him exploded in a jet of dragon fire spewing into the tower, a Stormcloak who was on the second floor was incinerated, and Ricardo was sent flying back into the Argonian, but the strong Argonian caught him and helped him get his balance, then they slowly made their way back up the stairs, they charred remains of the Stormcloak, burned brightly, as did the nearby table. “There look the Inn!” The [[]] said quickly, “I see it, you [[]], and the Argonian, what's your names?” Ricardo asked, the Argonian grinned again, “I am Parax” he said proudly, “I'm Keira Kinover of [[]]” the [[]] said in pleasant voice, “I am Ricardo, now shall we make our way into the Inn for a quick drink?” Ricardo said grinning, and then took a running leap out of the hole in the wall, crashing through the burning thatch of the Inn, and landing on a comfortable bed in one of the Inns upstairs rooms, suddenly Parax came crashing through the ceiling and crash landed on the floor, “Not my most graceful landing...” He growled, Ricardo grinned then suddenly noticed Keira gracefully jumping down onto the roof beams and landing on her feet into the room, Parax got up and rubbed his scales, “You two alright?” Keira asked happily, “Oh you know, just another day at the pub!” Ricardo said sarcastically and rushed the door, smashing headlong into a massive hole down into the ground floor of the Inn, Parax quickly followed landing on his feet then promptly fell over as Keira used his head as a step to reach the floor, “Well come on lads let's get out of here!” she yelled as she raced ahead, Ricardo looked at Parax, a lopsided grin on his face, “Amazing girl eh?” Parax laughed and they quickly ran to catch up, they arrived in the street leading to the square they had just escaped, Ricardo suddenly spied the Imperial soldier who had been so kind to him, hurrying a boy to safety, he saw Ricardo and smiled, “Still alive prisoners? keep near me if you wanna stay that way!” he shouted and passed the child to another man, “Take care of yourselves, Hadvar!” the man said, Hadvar nodded and turned to Ricardo and Parax, “We have to join General Tullius and the defence!” The three of them started off at a run for the main gate they had come in from, where a group of Imperial archers and a female Battlemage where shooting at the Dragon, which passed real low and engulfed a soldier in flames, “We have to make for the keep!” Ricardo shouted over the din of battle, “I concur!” Parax said grimly, Hadvar looked at them and nodded, “This way!” he shouted, they began running through another gate into another courtyard, suddenly Balof and Keira appeared in front of them, Hadvar skidded to a halt, “Balof you damn traitor! Out of my way!” he yelled, Balof grinned and brandished a war axe, “We're escaping Hadvar, you cannot stop us!” Balof yelled back, Hadvar lowered his sword, “Fine... I hope Oblivion takes you all!” Hadvar ran away towards the keep, whilst Balof ran towards a wooden door in one of the walls, “Well Ricardo, I hope we meet again someday” and with that Parax raced after Balof, Ricardo was nearly tempted to follow Parax but something pulled him away and he began to race after Hadvar, when he caught up with Hadvar they raced into the keep just as the Dragon swept the ground with fire, Ricardo shouldered the door shut and gasped for air, Hadvar was also bent over, sucking in air, “We... We made it!” Ricardo smiled weakly, and looked at Hadvar, who smiled, “looks like we're the only ones that made it” Hadvar said, suddenly Hadvar produced a small silver dagger, “Let me take those binds off” he said, Ricardo complied and soon was flexing his sore arms and hands, and muttered simply “thank you” Chapter Two: Flight Underground Ricardo examined the room they where in, it was a large barracks room with a number of beds and weapons racks lining the wall, Hadvar stood there shaking his head in disbelief, “How could it be so? A dragon?” He muttered, Ricardo shook his head, “We need to get out of here, Hadvar” Ricardo said grimly, Hadvar nodded then smiled, “Forgive me friend, I'm not myself, come lets go this way” as he beckoned towards a door, “first get some equipment from over there” Hadvar said as he pointed toward a chest, which Ricardo approached and found that it contained a set of Imperial light armour and an old iron sword, he quickly changed from the old ragged fur armour into the leather of the Imperial amour and slung the sword on his left hip, then checking the armour straps where fixed properly, he made his way towards Hadvar and the door, Hadvar and Ricardo began to make their way through a labyrinth of passageways until they came to what looked like an ancient iron door, that was slightly ajar, “We have to get the fek out of here!” a voice said from the other side of the door, Hadvar beckoned to Ricardo to peek through the door, as Ricardo slowly edged his way towards the door and peeked through, he saw three Stormcloaks arguing, he backed away and turned to Hadvar, “Three Stormcloaks, What's the plan sir?” Ricardo reported, Hadvar seemed rather taken back by being called 'sir' but quickly got his wits back, “Maybe we can reason with them?” He suggested, Ricardo nodded and turned back towards the door, he took a deep breath and opened the door and smiled at the Stormcloaks, “Greetings, I am....” He got no further as the Stormcloaks cried in fury and rushed him, he only barely managed to draw his sword before they where upon him, one lashed out with a huge battle axe, and tried to decapitate him but Ricardo parried the handle of the axe, and was sent staggering back from the impact, he regained his composure and set on the large Nord with the axe, the Stormcloak went for another swing, but Ricardo ducked and came in under the Nord's guard and slashed at his legs, the blade caught against the knee caps of the Nord soldier and he bellowed in pain, before making another deadly swing with the axe, which caught Ricardo off guard and grazed his right arm leaving a bloody graze, Ricardo swung out and smashed his sword against the Nord's axe sending him staggering back and then Ricardo closed in for the kill, sending his blade through the Nord's throat! The Nord collapsed, blood spurting out of the terrible wound in his neck, he tried to say some defiant last words but it came in a bloody gargle, and then he was dead. Ricardo turned to find a female Stormcloak approaching him, with a sword, Ricardo saluted her with his sword and made a lighting quick attack, to the torso, leaving a bloody cut, but the Stormcloak made an attack with her own blade and slashed Ricardo's right arm where the graze was, Ricardo dropped his sword in pain and fell back against an overturned table, the woman gave a triumphant cry and then lifted her sword to finish him! but then she was sent crashing into Ricardo instead, the body of the third Stormcloak smashing into her after Hadvar kicked him, sending him hurtling into the other Stormcloak! Hadvar was on him in a moment and finished him off, whilst Ricardo and the female started wrestling on the ground, a dagger in her hand! Ricardo though had a firm grasp of her wrist and was much stronger then her, and forced her to drop the dagger, which clattered to the ground, Ricardo then kneed her in the stomach and she doubled over in pain, where he knocked her unconscious with a jug, that was lying on the floor! Hadvar rushed over to Ricardo and helped him up, Ricardo steadied himself then looked up at Hadvar and smiled “Well I always said reasoning with Stormcloaks was impossible!” Ricardo grinned, Hadvar shook his head wearily and smiled, “Lets get to the alchemist's supply room, and get ourselves patched up!” he said wearily, Ricardo nodded and went to retrieve his sword, and searched the bodies of the dead Stormcloaks for anything valuable or of use. He found seven gold Septims, and a small dagger of silver, which he fixed to his belt. He then nodded to Hadvar and he opened the second door in the room which opened onto a long corridor, and they made their way down a long set of stairs, and came to another door which Ricardo opened warily, He nodded to Hadvar and they made their way into the room, when suddenly. “The Imperials keep a feking load of potions in these cupboards” A voice said, Hadvar and Ricardo stole a glance at each other and Ricardo gestured for Hadvar to wait near the door, Hadvar nodded and Ricardo slowly sneaked into the main room, where two Stormcloaks where sifting through a cupboard full of potions, they where both wounded and Ricardo stealthily sneaked up behind the closest Nord, whom he quickly grabbed and stabbed in the back! The Nord wreathed in agony and the second Nord heard the commotion and turned around and hurled himself at Ricardo, who rushed the Nord and they both crashed into a cabinet of potions which shattered as the two men crashed into it, the Nord was weak from his wound but still as strong as an ox and kicked Ricardo in the crotch, Ricardo wheeled back in agony and slashed out blindly with his dagger, catching the Nord in the thigh, the Nord gave a grunt and kicked the dagger out of Ricardo's hand, but Ricardo grabbed the foot with his other hand and yanked the Nord to the ground before smashing a wooden bucket over his head! The bucket shattered and the Nord yelled in pain, then swung out with his fists, catching Ricardo on the jaw, Ricardo went reeling back into another cabinet of potions, shattering the contents over the floor. Suddenly Hadvar approached the Nord from behind and slashed his sword across the mans back! The man shrieked in agony and fell to the ground and bled out slowly, whilst Ricardo rubbed his jaw tenderly, Hadvar went over to one of the cabinets that wasn't completely smashed apart and retrieved two health potions and returned to Ricardo, “Here” He said smiling, Ricardo gave a weak smile and took the proffered potion and slowly drank it, it poured down his throat and immediately set to work and within thirty second he felt better, he got up and stretched and recovered his dagger and helped Hadvar, gather as many potions as he could, and placed them into a satchel he found lying on a table. With the potions found Ricardo and Hadvar, searched the dead Stormcloaks and then made their way down another tunnel that went on a fair way then descended into a flight of stairs, when they arrived at the bottom, they heard raised voices and the sound of the discharge of a lighting spell, and the accompanying scream that followed. Ricardo and Hadvar drew their swords and charged in! But it was already over, they arrived into a large chamber that Ricardo recognized instantly as a torture chamber, The Torturer stood there and smiled grimly, Ricardo sheathed his sword and along with Hadvar, approached the torturer and nodded. The torturer eyed him up and down and scowled. “What are you two doing here?” He asked in nasty cracked voice, his assistant stood there looking at them with a scowl on his face also. “Helgen is under attack! By a dragon!” Hadvar explained to the two men. The Torturer cackled with laughter and then suddenly snapped at Hadvar. “Don't be absurd boy! dragons aren't real!” He burst into another cackle of laughter before he suddenly stopped and looked thoughtful. “Though it would explain the weird noise I heard coming from above” He said thoughtfully, Hadvar nodded and began to explain the whole situation whilst Ricardo poked around the chambers strange devices. “Will you tell that fool to stop messing with my equipment!” The Torturer snapped at Hadvar, Ricardo turned and apologized, to which the Torturer grunted an acknowledgment. Hadvar turned to the Torturer and pleaded with him, “We need to get out of here!” The Torturer looked at him and scowled, “You have no authority over me boy!” he snapped, Hadvar looked shocked, “Didn't you here me!? theres a feking dragon out there!” he burst out at the Torturer. The Torturer turned and walked away from Hadvar, but his assistant, came up to them, “I'm coming with you” he announced, to which Ricardo replied, “Good to have you friend” Suddenly Ricardo noticed something in one of the cells, inside was a dead man dressed in what looked like the remains of a mages robes, and an old worn spell book. “Here can you get this door open?” he asked the assistant, the assistant shook his head. “Oh we lost the key to that ages ago!” The Torturer suddenly appeared at Ricardo's side. Then Ricardo had an idea, he started searching around the chamber searching through a couple of cabinets, until he found what he was looking for, in an old backpack. Lockpicks, there where in fact five of them but he only needed one, he also found another book called The Book of the Dragonborn ''which he grabbed and placed in his satchel, 'should be some good reading' he thought to himself, and walked over to the cage and carefully unlocked the door to the cage, the Torturer was positively fuming and cried out, “Oh sure just take all my stuff!” Ricardo picked up the book and a small purse of septims, which he placed in his satchel as well. He turned to the Torturer, “Shut up, ye feking idiot” He said. The Torturer was quite taken back by this and went off fuming! Ricardo smiled at Hadvar and the assistant, and they made their way down a long passageway that turned into cave tunnels, Ricardo took a torch off the wall, and they made their way into the tunnels, where they snuck past a group of Stormcloaks, whilst the assistant distracted the Stormcloaks, Ricardo and Hadvar made there way into another anti-chamber where they where ambushed by several large spiders, Ricardo rushed two off them and slashed one spiders legs and the stabbed his sword into the second spiders pincers, Hadvar charged and killed three more whilst Ricardo killed the last two with a huge sweeping blow as they both lunged at him with their deadly pincers! “Fek, I hate spiders!” Ricardo said grimly, Hadvar nodded and pointed towards a cobweb covered tunnel entrance, which they cleared and made their way through into, as they walked through the many tunnels that stretched on for ages, they finally arrived into a cavern, through which flowed a small stream. They began to follow the river and kept going for a while until they found a hand cart! And it was filled with bottles of wine! Ricardo grabbed a bottle and uncorked it, and took a swig of the fine liquor, then passed it to Hadvar who took another swig. “Bleeding Surillie Brothers!” Ricardo exclaimed, Hadvar looked at him with a look of confusion, Ricardo noticed and began to explain, “Surillie Brother where some of the finest wine makers in Cyrodill back in the third era, then they died after the Oblivion crisis!” Hadvar's eyes went wide in wonderment, “So this bottle of wine is over two hundred years old!” He exclaimed, then put the remains into his satchel, “Something for the road!” he explained as Ricardo eyed him, then Ricardo also grabbed a bottle and placed into his satchel, once this was done they made their way further down into the caverns, when suddenly Hadvar beckoned to Ricardo to get down! “Look there, a cave bear!” Hadvar whispered to Ricardo, Ricardo peered over a pile of rocks and saw the bear asleep, he also noticed three figures up on a high ledge, Balof, Parax and Keira, they disappeared into another tunnel and where gone, Hadvar hadn't even noticed them. “Alright let's sneak around, we aren't really up to facing a bear in combat!” Ricardo whispered and began to move forward slowly, he was aware of every small crack and creak that his boots made on the cold stone, but the bear didn't wake, they slowly made their way past the bear then suddenly it started to wake up, Ricardo didn't think twice he bolted with Hadvar in close pursuit down the passage, then suddenly to there amazement they where outside! In the distance they could see the dragon flying away over an old ruin. They sighed in relief and collapsed into a heap under the cover of a fir tree. '''Chapter Three:' Journey to Riverwood The next morning they moved out into the crisp morning air, Hadvar shook hands with Ricardo, “Best we split up, head for Riverwood, just north of here, my uncles the blacksmith there, and thats where I'll meet you” Hadvar explained, Ricardo nodded and smiled, “Divines be with you Hadvar” Ricardo replied, Hadvar nodded and then turned and began to walk down the mountain path. Ricardo looked out across the windswept mountainside. Scattered copses of pine dotted the slope, the foliage rustled softly in the brisk breeze. Distant peaks glimmered amid the clouds in the panorama, that spread out before him. Slowly he made his own way north, traveling slowly through the mountains, It has been a long couple of days! Striding down the curving path, he paused beside a mountain stream, he stepped off the path and went down to the path, where he dipped his hands into the icy cold water and drank his fill from the icy, crystal clear water. Ricardo watched as fish leaped amongst the rocks of the stream as they headed upstream, suddenly he was aware of being watched. Suddenly the bandits closed in from multiple directions, Ricardo quickly dropped into combat stance, he drew his into his right hand and pulled the battered shield he'd recovered from the dead Stormcloaks yesterday into his left, only moments before the highwayman's hatchet glanced the shields surface instead of Ricardo's arm. Ricardo managed a deft swing that caught the bandit off guard, and blood blossomed across his mid-section, undaunted the hardy bandit reared back for a powerful slam with his sword, hoping to overpower Ricardo's guard, Ricardo bashed forward with the shield, sending the bandit flying into the stream, cracking his head on a rock, the second bandit closed in for the kill, but Ricardo kicked out and grabbed his sword arm and pulled the bandit onto his sword, the bandit gave a startled cry of pain, then collapsed in pain, Ricardo scowled and left them to whatever cruel fate awaited them. He made his way back to the path, the other bandits had disappeared and so he started traveling down the worn old track. He enjoyed the scenery of the woods and observed much of the wildlife, deer, rabbits, and fox, as well as a wolf which looked to offer Ricardo a challenge until Ricardo drew his sword and gave it a single slash across the nose, it then ran off yelping. Finally he came upon the main road to Riverwood, the cobbled path was old, and worn. The road ran alongside a beautiful river which flowed quickly over the cold mountain rocks, as he progressed along the road he came to three tall standing stones, he sat down in their shade for a while and took a sip of the wine he had taken. And pulled out the old spell tome, which he poured over for sometime until the sun was high in the sky and the day had worn on, Ricardo then took another gulp of the wine and left the shelter of the old standing stones, and made his way down the road. At long last, Riverwood came into view, the small logging community looked to offering a well deserved respite after the long journey. It was a quaint little village with only one main street, the building where all made of wood and stone, and looked completely different to the stone buildings of Riften or the completely wooden structures in Helgen, as Ricardo walked down the main street he came across the blacksmith almost instantly, as it was located opposite the only shop in town!, as he looked around he noticed a sawmill on a small island in the middle of the river, on the sawmill island he saw three familiar figures talking to the mill owner, Balof, Parax and Keira. He smiled and thought of their adventures in Helgen. Then he turned and made his way onto the porch of the blacksmith, where he found Hadvar deep in conversation with another man who Ricardo guessed was Hadvar uncle, the blacksmith. Hadvar noticed Ricardo and got up quickly and rushed across and slapped him on the back, “Uncle, this is Ricardo, the man I was telling you about!” He told his uncle, Hadvar's uncle got up from his seat and strode up to Ricardo, his hand outstretched. Ricardo took the hand and shook it vigorously, “My name is Alvor, I'm Hadvar's uncle” Alvor greeted him, “My thanks for helping my dear nephew” Alvor smiled broadly and beckoned him into the house, “Come you must be hungry and perhaps now Hadvar will tell me the rest of the story eh?” And with that they entered the house and where welcomed by Hadvar's family. Category:Fiction Category:Fictional Character